


Your Density

by jyongdae



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Coffee Shops, Fluff, M/M, Movie References, a giant anxious baby, chanyeol is an anxious baby, terrible flirting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-10
Updated: 2017-02-10
Packaged: 2018-09-23 07:40:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9646724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jyongdae/pseuds/jyongdae
Summary: Jongdae just happens to keep showing up in all of Chanyeol's favourite places. They're not his favourite places because Jongdae's always there. Swear.(Or: the one where Chanyeol tries to work up the nerve to talk to the cute boy he keeps seeing around and Jongdae ends up doing all the work for him.)





	

It's probably the fifth or sixth time that Chanyeol's seen him in this coffee shop. Okay, it's the fifth. He's seen him twice over at Cafe Nero picking up drinks to go, but this is definitely the fifth time he's seen him in Whiskers. Not that he's counting. He's not a creep.

He's gonna do it this time. He's gonna go over and say hi. But there's someone with him so maybe he won't. He doesn't want to make an idiot out of himself and making an idiot out of himself in front of one person is bad enough, let alone two. And he really likes this place. Letting a crush go is one thing but this coffee shop sprinkles the chocolate powder on top of their mochas in the shape of sleeping cats. He can't let this place go too.

He takes a breath. No biggie. He pushes his thick-framed glasses a little further up the bridge of his nose. He's asked people out before. Has he? He must have. He's kissed people before so something must have happened along the way. Or has just been the recipient of kisses? Huh.

On the other side of the cafe, he laughs. The sound of it makes Chanyeol's head jerk, his eyebrows pulling up and out of the furrow he had been burying them into. The coffee house is relatively busy, having just passed the mid-day rush. It's got that cosy feel too it, the sounds of gossip and mugs clanking against coasters is friendly and somehow impersonal at the same time, loud enough that you can't actually hear anything. But Chanyeol hears him. His laugh cuts through all of it, high and musical. When Chanyeol's eyes land on him, three small, circular tables down, he sees his face, head tipping backwards with laughter. His eyebrows slant down in such a specific, unusual way and even as the boy leans back forward, planting his feet on the floor before he topples over, Chanyeol can see the curvature of his lips. Feline. He's noticed it before.

Chanyeol looks down to his mug. Empty. Chocolatey dregs stuck to the bottom, a ring of froth stuck to the top. Should he buy another drink before he goes over? Because he's gonna, he definitely gonna talk to him this time. Maybe he should get another drink first-

And then the boy's standing, pushing his chair back with a screech.

Alarm bells ring behind Chanyeol's eyes, he's done it again, he hesitated and now he's going, the beautiful boy with the eyebrows and the lips and the face is going and then- nevermind. He's grabbed his wallet, but his satchel is still under the table, his friend is still sat down.

Looks like Chanyeol's buying another drink.

He takes a breath. _Maximum effort_.

Slinging his backpack on his shoulder and sliding out of his chair, Chanyeol notices something. The boy's shirt. It's his _Back to the Future_ shirt. He's worn it before. Not that Chanyeol's counting.

Stepping into the line behind the boy, where he's already placed his order, Chanyeol realises something. This boy is tiny. He has his head craned back to look up at the drinks board behind the counter and Chanyeol thinks he could lift him up if he wanted to get a closer look. He looks like he wouldn't weight a thing.

The boy tilts his head a little, side-eyes Chanyeol.

He's been rumbled. He feels his face heat up and he stamps down on the trill that runs up his throat threatening to burst out of his mouth in a nervous laugh. He's got this. He can talk to people. No biggie.

The boy smiles.

Chanyeol relaxes.

He's got this.

“Hi,” the boy says.

“H-Hey,” Chanyeol replies. He did it. The ball is rolling. Conversation is flowing. He is basically a master at socialising. He could do this all day.

The boy looks Chanyeol up and down.

Chanyeol un-relaxes.

“I'm Jongdae.”

“Oh,” Chanyeol says, articulately. It throws him. People don't usually just introduce themselves to strangers in the coffee line.

“You were staring at me.”

There it is.

“Ha... _whaaaaat?_ ” Chanyeol says with a disarming, alarming grin. It's his emergency grin. He uses it all the time at work at the movie theatre when customers want to know why their booked seats have been given away and he can't remember the number to call a manager for assistance.

The boy raises an eyebrow and teeters back on his heels to look up at Chanyeol's full height. Chanyeol's impressed really. This guy's tiny. He's really good at wording with strangers. Chanyeol's pretty jealous. He makes it look so easy.

He catches his T-shirt again. This is an awkward situation but he may be able to defuse it.

“Jongdae?” The boy nods his head a little, in the affirmative. Oh boy. Here goes. “Jongdae. My density... has brought me to you.”

Chanyeol feels something rise in his chest and he thinks it's one half surprise at himself and one half immediate regret. Embarrassment. And the realisation that this may, in fact, be the last time he comes to Whiskers. The barista saw.

Jongdae stops teetering and straightens up. “What?”

“What I meant to say was-”

“Wait, what's your name?” Jongdae's smiling and the cold nervousness that had been washing down Chanyeol's spine runs a little warmer.

“Chanyeol. Park Chanyeol.” Just a little further. Maximum effort. “I'm your density. I mean-”

“Your destiny.” Jongdae's smirking. Chanyeol said the lines and Jongdae is smirking. “Yeah. You're doing a bit. _Back to the Future_ , right?”

Chanyeol relaxes pretty much immediately. He got it. Chanyeol might make it out alive.

He hadn't realised that he had locked his legs stiff until he feels like he needs to stretch them out or he'll fall over. He might still fall over.

“Yeah, your uh.. your shirt,” he says weakly. Jongdae's smirk had softened into something more of a curious smile and it's distracting, Chanyeol can't concentrate.

“Oh, yeah.” Jongdae looks down at himself.

“Hey, can I take your order?”

The barista's placed Jongdae's coffee on the counter and is looking at Chanyeol expectantly. The coffee art has kitty whiskers poking out from a heart shaped nose. The barista has a beard and tattoos on his muscular arms.

Chanyeol places his order, and he can feel Jongdae's attention on him again, a weight settling on his skin. He hasn't gone back to his seat. Which reminds Chanyeol of Jongdae's friend.

“Buddy, d'y'want this in or to go?”

“Uh-” Chanyeol looks back over to where Jongdae's friend is sat. He's peering over at them suspiciously. His eyebrows mean business. “To go, thanks.”

Chanyeol's had his fill of encounters for the day.

The barista turns away and Jongdae's looking at Chanyeol now, really looking at him, smiling wide with the tip of his tongue pinched between his teeth. He's waiting. Chanyeol clears his throat. Jongdae goes first.

“So you like movies, huh?”

“Yeah, I, uh, I work at the movie theatre in town.” Conversation. Nailing it. The urge to bite his fingernails is overwhelming.

“Oh really? The uh, what's it called? The Landmark? Round the corner?”

He seems genuinely interested. Oh boy.

Chanyeol nods.

“Nice! They're showing a bunch of old movies at the moment right?”

“Yeah, we are actually...”

Jongdae turns and grabs a napkin from the counter. He nabs one of the biros lying beside the cash register and only spares a glance towards the barista that raises a brow at him. He scribbles on it.

Chanyeol looks over to the friend again. He's still peering. Chanyeol quickly looks away.

Jongdae draws him back when he presses the napkin into Chanyeol's chest. Chanyeol, unsuspecting, is mildly winded by Jongdae's jab, but his fingers are warm as Chanyeol's skim over them to take the napkin. He glances down at it. _10 Things I Hate About You. 8:30pm. Friday._ There's a phone number underneath.

Jongdae's smiling in his feline way again.

“Uh...”

Jongdae finally lifts his coffee from the counter, just as Chanyeol's is being placed down.

“You were hitting on me, right?”

That nervous laugh is rising in Chanyeol's airway again. Jongdae takes a sip of his drink. There's froth and chocolate on his cupid's bow and at the feline upturn of his smile.

“If you're my density, who am I to refuse?”

 

**Author's Note:**

> hohoho what a pair of nerds :')
> 
> i wrote this in like 30 minutes in the middle of the night so I'M HOPING there aren't too many errors/irregularities D;
> 
> also whiskers is a real coffee shop/bar/venue/pizza place i've been to. it was wild


End file.
